Georgia’s “Strong4Life” campaign to address childhood obesity is a well-meaning but likely counterproductive attempt to address one of the most important public health priorities in our country. It is critical to address childhood obesity, but the Strong4Life campaign takes a misguided approach that may inadvertently worsen obesity and harm the very people who are most in need of help.
This highly visible and well-financed campaign ($50 million) intends to motivate parents and children to take action on childhood obesity by using images and testimonials of obese youth (hired actors) who are portrayed with “warning” messages such as “Big Bones Didn’t Make Me This Way, Big Meals Did” and “Fat Kids Become Fat Adults,” or “Stocky, Chubby, Chunky are Still Fat.”
The images are meant to motivate, but are likely to have the opposite effect. Despite a national backlash from parents, citizens and health organizations, the campaign organizers persist.
Spokespeople for the campaign defend their approach as “tough love” and a “wake-up” call, but there is legitimate concern that the campaign instead stigmatizes and shames children and their families. This makes the problem worse. Scientific evidence shows that obese children and adults who feel shamed, blamed or stigmatized because of their weight are instead likely to eat more and exercise less. And there is the flawed logic that overweight kids and their parents do not care enough and will be motivated by shame. A look inside the social and emotional life of overweight children often reveals extreme longing to be thin and deep scars from the torment they face from their peers and adults.
Obese children are also vulnerable to bullying because of their weight. Research shows that the most common reason that students are teased at school is due to their weight. The negative portrayals of obese youth in the Strong4Life campaign will very likely add to the torment and harassment that these children have to confront, often daily, at school.
Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta launched this campaign in conjunction with key partners including the Boys & Girls Clubs of Metro Atlanta, the YMCA, the Georgia State Department of Public Health, Blue Cross/Blue Shield of Georgia and others. These partners should be aware of the possible negative and harmful effects that may result from the campaign. This is especially true given that there are more constructive campaigns available that emphasize specific behaviors that families can engage in to improve health and prevent or reduce obesity, such as increased consumption of fruits and vegetables, reducing consumption of sugary drinks and increasing physical activity.
People involved in this campaign would be profoundly disappointed if the $50 million investment had no impact, or worse, led to more rather than less obesity. Making the pervasive bias and stigma against overweight children even worse is unfair and discriminatory, and is not defensible as an obesity reduction campaign given the available research on the topic.
We applaud the investment in childhood obesity in Georgia and the number of community partners who are involved, but the aim must be to fight obesity, not obese individuals.
Rebecca Puhl is director of Research at Yale’s Rudd Center for Food Policy & Obesity. Kelly Brownell is the center’s director.
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